A cover can be used to protect cargo in a trailer during transit or to protect the body of a vehicle or trailer. During transit and in rough weather conditions, it is desirable for the cover to be secure and/or water resistant.
Existing methods of covering a cargo, trailer and/or vehicle include using cargo nets, tarpaulins or a combination of the two.
Cargo nets generally comprise a mesh made from one or more elastic ropes and a plurality of fixed position hooks arranged around the periphery of the mesh for securing the cargo net. These cargo nets can become easily tangled. They are difficult to untangle before use and can catch unintentionally on protruding objects when being secured. Whilst the cargo net may be able to secure the cargo in a trailer, it is not water resistant and the cargo may become damaged when exposed in certain weather conditions, such as rain, snow, hail, etc.
A sheet of material such as a tarpaulin can be used to protect the cargo, trailer and/or vehicle in rough weather conditions. However, tarpaulins are difficult to secure and require the use of separate rope, cords or nets such as cargo nets to tie it down.
Arranging a cover for cargo, trailers and/or vehicles using the tarpaulins, separate ropes, cords and/or cargo nets can be a time consuming and frustrating exercise, especially when covering a large area.
Cords such as bungee/elastic cords, ropes, lines, chains or the like can be used in many different applications. For example, cords can be used to tie objects together, secure or fix one object relative to another, secure or fix one or more objects in a desired position, move one or more objects in a desired manner and so on.
When using cords, it is often desirable to fix a portion (such as an end) of a cord relative to an object or another portion of the cord. In some cases, knots can be tied in the cord to fix the cord to itself and/or another object. Alternatively, cord fixtures can be used apply the cord in a desired manner.
One existing cord fixture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,652. U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,652 describes a pair of hooks which can be mounted on a cord. The hooks each have a cylindrical tubular member slidable along a cord and a flared slot for retaining a portion of the cord. However, in some cases the cord may not be properly held in place by the slot, thereby causing the cord to undesirably become dislodged from the hook.
It is an aim of the invention to provide a tonneau cover which overcomes or ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages or problems described above, or which at least provides the consumer with a useful choice.